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Retail Bonds

On 1 February 2010, the London Stock Exchange launched the electronic Order book for Retail Bonds (ORB). This new order-driven trading service offers access to select number of gilts, supranational and corporate bonds and has been developed in response to strong demand from retail investors for access to an on-screen secondary market in fixed income securities.

Key Features

Dedicated market makers are committed to quoting two-way prices in all the retail bonds throughout the trading day. Additionally, all other registered member participants are able to enter orders into the order book.

Private investors are able to see prices on-screen and trade in bonds in a similar way they currently do for shares.

The trading day starts with an initial opening auction at 08.00 followed by continuous trading until market close at 16.30.

All market participants are able to use limit orders and market orders. Market makers are additionally able to enter named, electronically executable quotes.

The minimum price movement for all order book bonds is standardised at 0.01 (one penny).

The lot size for each bond in the order book’s UK Corporates segment reflects the trading denomination specified in the particular bond’s prospectus documentation (typically £100 or £1,000 although some bonds may be tradable in multiples of £5,000 or £10,000 only).

All securities in the UK Gilts segment have a standard lot size of £1 and can be traded in multiples of whole pounds.

All order book trades are trade reported automatically and published immediately.